do backbenchers exert significant influence in parliament?

structure of the essay?

• P1 - Rebellions

• P2 - Debates and Urgent Questions

• P3 - Legislative Influence

P1 - Rebellions - exert significant influence in Parliament

• A key way in which backbenchers of the governing party can exert

  influence is through rebelling against government bills in order to

  defeat the government and prevent a law being passed. The frequency

  of government defeats has increased a great deal since 2010, in large

  part due to a number of governments having smaller majorities/being

  coalitions.

  • When a government’s majority is narrow or when it is internally divided,

    even a relatively small group of rebels can overturn legislation. This

    increases the power of backbenchers, as the likelihood of inflicting defeat

    makes rebellion an influential tool.

• Theresa May was defeated 33 times in the House of Commons

  when she had a minority government following the 2017 General Election.

  • Most notably, May suffered the worst defeat in modern political

    history (432-202, with 118 Tories voting against) on 15 January

    2019, when her government tried to get Parliament to approve its

    Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

• This shows that backbenchers are not simply 'lobby fodder' as whips cannot

  always enforce party discipline, especially on controversial or unpopular

  legislation.

P1 - Rebellions - do not exert significant influence in Parliament

• On the other hand, it can be argued that backbenchers’ influence

  through rebellion is often overstated because its effectiveness is

  heavily dependent on the size of the government’s majority. When the

  government has a significant majority in the House of Commons,

  rebellions are much less likely to be successful and are therefore a

  great deal less common.

• In these circumstances, the government can usually absorb dissent without

  risking defeat, significantly reducing the power of individual MPs.

  Backbenchers are less likely to risk their political careers by rebelling

  against the government when they have little chance of winning.

  • Tony Blair was defeated just four times in his 10 years in office.

    Similarly, despite political weakness and unpopularity, Rishi Sunak was

    defeated just once in the Commons.

  • Starmer has yet to face a defeat and has a large majority of 174 seats,

    making it very unlikely he will be defeated in this Parliament.

• This shows how the vast majority of government legislation passes, as

  rebellions rarely defeat legislation and therefore limit the influence of

  backbenchers.

P2 - Debates and Urgent Questions - exert significant influence in Parliament

• Another key way Backbenchers can exert influence in Parliament is

  through urgent questions. Urgent Questions allow backbenchers/the

  opposition to question ministers on matters of public importance, with

  ministers forced to come to Parliament and answer it immediately.

• The Speaker decides whether to grant Urgent Questions, and their use

  significantly increased under Speaker Bercow and Speaker Hoyle. Lindsay

  Hoyle has averaged around 0.6 Urgent Questions per day.

  • They can be significant in increasing the influence of backbenchers by

    allowing them to question and scrutinise the government over important

    issues, bypassing executive control of the timetable.

• In the 2024/26 Parliament, 178 Urgent Questions were granted, compared to

  just 29 in the 1997/98 session.

• On the 19th of January 2026, Labour MP Florence Eshalomi, Chairman of the Housing, Communities, and Local Government Committee

  • She criticised the government’s decision, highlighting that the Electoral

    Commission had not been consulted and had indicated elections

    should proceed.

  • Following this pressure from Parliament and public scrutiny generated

    by the UQ, the government U-turned on the decision to delay

    elections in 30 areas.

• This shows that backbench influence has increased, and UQ’s can mobilise

  public pressure on the government to directly influence policy.

P2 - Debates and Urgent Questions - do not exert significant influence in Parliament

• On the other hand, whilst Urgent Questions can raise the profile of an

  issue and get it on the agenda, they are much less likely to get any

  action taken or influence government policy.

• UQs compel ministers to appear before the House and respond publicly, but

  they do not require the government to change course. In most cases,

  ministers use them to defend existing policy rather than concede ground.

  • Therefore, although the increase in UQs under Speakers such as Lindsay

    Hoyle has strengthened scrutiny, scrutiny does not necessarily equate to

    increasing the actual influence of backbenchers.

• On the 14th May 2025, SNP MP, Kirsty Blackman, was granted an urgent question regarding Ministerial Code and announcements being made outside of Parliament.

  • Despite this scrutiny, Lucy Powell, who answered the question, merely restated the rules and maxims rather than commenting on violations or incurring change.

• This shows that UQs don’t increase the influence of backbenchers, as they rarely cause any meaningful change in government policy.

P3 - Legislative Influence - exerts significant influence in Parliament

• Finally it can be argued that BB exert significant legislative influence in Parliament as they take part in ‘Public Bill Committees’, which scrutinise government legislation in detail after Second Reading.

  • These Committees, made up of 16-50 MPs reflecting the party balance of the House, examine a Bill line by line and can table, debate, and vote on amendments.

• The Committee gathers evidence from experts to inform its scrutiny.

  Members then debate the Bill in detail, voting on proposed amendments and

  making formal changes to the text. Once this review is complete, the Bill is

  reported back to the House of Commons for the Report Stage.

  • This therefore gives backbenchers significant influence over the composition

    of legislation. This scrutiny provides backbench MPs with an opportunity to

    shape the substance of a Bill.

• The Railways Bill entered the Committee Stage on 20 January 2026 and

  underwent 14 sittings of detailed scrutiny.

  • The Railways Bill Committee launched a call for evidence to assist the

    committee members in analysing the Bill.

  • In total 340 amendments were proposed, after MPs

    looked in detail at the wording of the bill.

• This shows that backbenchers play a pivotal role in the legislative process

  and can exert significant influence by refining legislation.

P3 - Legislative Influence - do not exert significant influence in Parliament

• On the other hand, it can be argued that the legislative influence of

  backbenchers is limited. Although backbenchers can propose

  amendments to government legislation through Public Bill

  Committees, governments have a majority in these committees and

  will usually defeat amendments it doesn't support.

• Due to the fact that committees reflect the party balance of the house,

  amendments at this stage are dominated by the government. Therefore,

  whilst scrutiny may be detailed, decision-making power lies with the

  executive rather than backbenchers. Over 99% of ministerial amendments

  succeed at this stage, compared to less than 1% of non government

  amendments.

• Despite the detailed scrutiny by the Railways Public Bill Committee,

  concerns raised by the committee were ignored, with the government

  systematically rejecting numerous amendments proposed by opposition

  MPs and backbenchers.

  • The government voted down attempts to change key clauses regarding

    funding, electrification, and local control, defending the Bill's structure and

    the central role of Great British Railways (GBR).

• This shows that, although backbenchers can scrutinise and propose

  changes, the government is able to block amendments that would

  significantly alter its policy objectives. Therefore the influence of

  backbenchers is limited as it rarely leads to the transformation of legislation